Tina Beattie

Tina Beattie (born 16 March 1955) is a British Christian theologian, writer and broadcaster.

She was born in 1955 in the northern part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, nowadays Zambia, to Scottish Presbyterian parents and lived there for eighteen years, attending the Dominican Convent School in Lusaka.

Beattie also lived in Paris, Nairobi and Harare.

She is married to Dave Beattie, and worked as a secretary before the birth of their four children (born in 1978, 1980, 1983, and 1986).

In 1986, she converted to Roman Catholicism from Presbyterianism.

After moving to Bristol with her family in 1988, she became a mature student at the University of Bristol in 1991, where she received a first class honours degree in theology and religious studies.

In 1998, she completed a PhD on the theology and symbolism of the Virgin Mary in the light of the psycholinguistic theory of Luce Irigaray as a resource for the analysis of Christian writings on Mary and Eve in the early Church and in recent Catholic theology.

Beattie lectured at the University of Bristol and Wesley College, Bristol, and also taught for the Open University.

She took up a full-time post at the University of Roehampton in 2002.

Beattie's thesis on the theology and symbolism of the Virgin Mary in the light of the psycholinguistic theory of Luce Irigaray formed the basis of the book, God's Mother, Eve's Advocate (2002), and these ideas are further developed in New Catholic Feminism: Theology and Theory' (2006).

Over the years, she researched and published extensively in the areas of Catholic theology and psychoanalytic theory (Theology After Postmodernity: Divining the Void); theologies and theories of gender and sexuality (New Catholic Feminism: Theology and Theory); the cult of the Virgin Mary (God's Mother, Eve's Advocate); the work of Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar from the perspectives of feminist theology and critical theory; Christian mysticism and spirituality; theological perspectives on literature and art; atheism and religion (The New Atheists); Catholic moral theology and social teaching; religion and human and women's rights.

She wrote regularly for the Catholic weekly, The Tablet, and The Guardian newspaper, including an eight-part series on Thomas Aquinas.

She also presents the Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4.

She was a theological advisor to Cafod, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development; the President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain (2006–08); a Director of the Catholic weekly, The Tablet.

In October 2012, the University of San Diego cancelled a visiting fellowship for Beattie following the pressure from financial contributors to the university who objected to the theologian's alleged public dissent from the Church's moral teachings.

She was scheduled to give a lecture on depiction of sin and redemption in art.

The theologian issued a statement rejecting accusations in deviating from the doctrinal truths of the faith as based on serious distortions of her theological position through use of selective quotations out of their context.

In the statement, Beattie explained her understanding of her own mission as a theologian and her beliefs:

On two occasions, on instructions from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, British bishops banned Tina Beattie from speaking on Church properties in their dioceses.

In 2012, Bishop of Clifton, Declan Lang, canceled a lecture she was to give in Clifton Cathedral.

The theologian was told it was because she had been a signatory to a letter in The Times arguing that Catholics could support same-sex marriage in good conscience.

After realisation that the question of women's role in the Catholic Church was not among Pope Francis's priorities, Beattie founded an online community, Catholic Women Speak, in December 2014.

In 2014, the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Leo Cushley, ordered to cancel an event at St Catherine's Convent, Edinburgh, where Beattie was due to speak on invitation of the Edinburgh Circle of the Newman Association.

In reply to the Archbishop's claim of Beattie being "known to have frequently called into question the Church's teaching", the theologian responded: "Never in my published writings or talks have questioned any of the doctrinal mysteries of the Catholic faith."

She claimed the lay Catholics have the right for a "more reasoned and nuanced public dialogue" about same-sex marriage.

Following signing an open letter to Polish bishops urging support for "early, safe and legal" abortion by Beattie, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) came under pressure to withdraw the role of a theological adviser from Beattie.

In its statement, CAFOD said that the views in the letter "do not represent nor reflect CAFOD's policies", but refused to meet the demands.

Her first novel, The Good Priest, was published in 2019.

Until August 2020, she was the Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in London and Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre for Religion, Society and Human Flourishing at the same university.

In retirement, she is remaining Director of Catherine of Siena College at the University of Roehampton and is writing fiction.

Beattie's theological contribution is notable in the areas of Catholic theology and psychoanalytic theory; gender and sexuality; Marian theology; theology and literature and art; atheism and religion; women's rights.

She is a long-standing advocate of a more prominent role of women in the Catholic Church.

Beattie is the eldest of three daughters born to Charlie and Nan Bell.

She left her post as Professor of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton in August 2020.

She continues in her role as Director of Catherine of Siena College, based at the University of Roehampton.

In retirement from active academic research, Beattie has focused on her "first and lifelong passion – to write fiction".